Last weeki got on a plane and flew many, many miles westwhere there is much snow on the favorite mountains.

The next dayas the morning broke

we climbed into the car and drove for half a day southdeeper into the desertto visit our other sisterwhere it was balmyand little narcissus were in full flower

i believe this little daffodil is the double form of 'Chinese sacred lily'

Two days laterwe drove backup into the mountainswhere the evening air was chilly yet soft

then stood in security lines once moreand flew home.Two days lateri got in the car and spent the weekend at Greenwoodwhere there was gentle rain all day Saturdayand the little cluster of coral bark mapleswere wearing their pearls

the older barktakes on an almost golden hue in patches

but it's those brilliant young stemsthat arrest and make one marvel

the photos really are best viewed larger. just click on one to open it in a new, bigger window

You know mei do not tolerate days upon weeks upon monthsof extreme heat and little to no rain. But that's exactly what our summer has been.

Hades rose up from its molten lava pitgrabbed nearly every corner of this vast continent into its deadly, evil embrace and would not it seemedlet go until it sucked the life from every living thing.

i crawled inside my shell weeks agomanaged only to accomplish the bare minimums.

It was not just me and my need for mild summer days and frequent blessings from rain clouds that had me in a stupor.Family members out west had cars packed withemergancy supplies while ash from raging wildfiresrained down upon their homes.

For the most parti've been numb (turns out thateven though people whine loudest in wintermore human lives are lost to extreme heat thanany other natural disaster)and i've learned that numbness has an upside or two:it allows one to focus on small things

and forget the overwhelming and devastating "bigger picture"and stop ranting in frustration that i have zero ability to make a difference nor any idea when or if it the deadly days will end(although ranting can feel pretty good, at least comparedto the suffocating anxiety you've been holding back).One can assume shorter days will cool things offbutwhen would the clouds return with their blessings?

Oh. yes. Before i forget, there is another positive:hauling hose pipe all day longday after dayis a good upper body workout.(For all of July we were focusing on saving trees and shrubslet alone perennials and veg).While standing, wateringhere or at Greenwoodmy eyes clung to any beautious thing

Finally, GOOD NEWS:Fires were "contained"(not put out, merely kept from spreadingit can take many more days to finally knock down a blaze)and no one in my family lost their homeor livelihood to fire.

And on Wednesday, July 17just before some of those family arrived fora planned visit and just before my soul gave up its ghostnorthwest winds finally blew in andpushed Hades back down into that ugly place it belongsat least temporarily.

We sighedWe cheered!We went out and stood in itWe talked of nothing else all day longDinner that night was a feast of thanksgiving.

Then!!A few short days laterall manner of blessings were heaped upon us!

This past MondayJuly 23i drove with visiting family to Liberty State Park and boarded the ferryto visit Ellis Island and cruise past Lady Liberty.

i confessin my frustration with politiciansridiculous governmental interventionsand a populace that is too often apathetic and obliviousi can become cynical about "This Great Nation".However, walking through Ellis Island with eyes openwas a deeply moving experiencebecause you see so many of the incredible faces of those who gave up everythingto come to where things were bettereven if not actually the heaven it was often imagined to be.

(You will forgive me, i hope, for not commenting further re the blessings vs blatant hypocrisies in this, my homeland...i simply do not have the energy for wrestling with such thoughtsand such an exercise would defeat me)

in my numb state(that numbness was not easy to shake offafter all, one good storm doesn't mean "it's all over")i had forgotten to grab my cameraand for the very first time i was grateful for cell phone technologyand what i call "camera phones"because it was there on Ellis Island that i was able to catch a precious little moment of our own family historyas the youngest memberJaycee, Kelly's granddaughterthe little girl she had always hoped forstood up from the ground all by herself for the very first time

It was so exciting!! and we all clapped and laughed and clapped some more

these aren't the best pictures i'll ever takebut they are treasuresbecause the whole time spent with Jaycee and her mom and dadi could feel Kelly with us

and i just love it when young boy cousins love to holdtheir littlest cousin

thenwhen the boat headed toward the statuei must admit ita lump formed in my throat

as i felt very deeplyperhaps for the very first timewhat it must have felt like to see herafter leaving everythingand in so many cases everyonebehind.

Then...i just couldn't help myselfi rejoiced and nearly danced a little jig(except for the fact that we were on a little boat thatwas doing a gentle dance of its own)when i realized that all those rain cloudswere coming from the direction of our home!

Dear Reader,another huge grin spreads across my face as i type the following:we drove home to discover 1.5 inches of water in the rain gauge!!But wait!That's not all!That eveningmore clouds rolled in turning the last hours dark long before sunsetand the heavens opened up once again!!A sunny day followedandtoday: more clouds and gentle rain.

our trees, shrubs, and multitude of living beings and iare very happy to report thatwe can breathe againand for now, at leastlife goes on.

i do apologize, dear visitorand issue this alert:this post contains a rather lengthy moan and groan about the unforgivable weatherHowever, after i vent i do share some more positive thoughtsand a pleasant photo or two. If you don't wish to indulge my rantyou can jump down to the photo for a few, more positive thoughts.And now, the rant:

Yesterday, it was 109F in the parking lot of the movie theater when we came out at 2pm

it was 102F in the garden.

Outside, away from the unnatural "conditioned" airit is difficult to breatheshade offers no respite.Nights are long and restless

This is simply not natural for our region.It feels as though Hades has come, uninvitedplopped down with a greedy grinand is refusing to leave until it has sucked all of the life out of every living thing.

Standing in line at the deli i overheard a man say"I'd take a week of snow and ice over this awful stuff."i wanted to hug him.Given that he was a total strangeri resisted the urge and just gave him a grin and a nod instead.

i confess that i feel not one iota of sympathy for those who moan onlyin rain or snow--and thereby reveal their utter ignorance for the needsof the natural world around them.Yes, of course i empathize with those who feel trapped, or threatened living in a climate they dislike.But, i confess i find it difficult to voice my understanding when most are silentduring heat and drought.

i find the rote, endlessly chanted-from-every-outlet "sunshine = happiness" to be utterly foolish and distasteful.Those in this seemingly vast chorus are obviously blind and do not see the large tracts of dead maples, oaks, ash and other important native trees across the hillsides, fieldsand mountains of the entire northeast.Worse, if they do see them, they fail to comprehend the disaster those skeletons warn us of.News outlets never notice until conditions are desperate.This widely accepted blindness, or ignorance--or just plain silence while the sun shines relentlessly--hurts me. i try hard not to, but i'm afraid i take it personally.

i write a garden column for our local dailyand i do my best to learn what i need to know about all of thisand to share it. i've written frequentlytoo frequently over the past decadeabout my case of RSAD, "reverse seasonal affective disorder"and i posted this public service announcement/warning on Facebook for all those who live in my vicinity:DO NOT utter the words "isn't this gorgeous weather". We just might learn that looks can kill or maim.It was my attempt at a sour joke after i'd come in from the smothering heat.

Writing publically about my distaste for hot weather has given others permission to acknowledge their distaste for blistering summer heat.Last spring, when it rained and rained and rained some more nearly every week, for two months we smiled, knowingly when we ran into each other.A postal clerk whispered "I know most people walk around miserable, but I love this."When individuals stopped me to exclaim, "I can't believe how fabulous the roses were this year!"i explained, "It was the good snow pack over the past 2 winters--and all that rain."Most just stared backslack-jawincredulous. "You can't be serious" in their eyes.

It's bad enough that my body revolts in temperatures above 80F(i've experience one too many bouts of heat exhaustion in my attempts to "tough it out"when i was hired to design, install and maintain gardens)Even so, i could cope with being trapped indoors with the ac and fans running 24/7i could read, play in PhotoShop, and haul the hoses around in the early morning hourswhile Hades reignsif it weren't for the fact that this type of heat destroys so much of what i loveout there (including wildlife)where no one can irrigate.

Leaves from the beloved birch rain down as it attempts to protect itself from further loss of moisture. The running joke is that weather forecasters are always wrong, right??i surely hope so, because--contrary to popular assumptionsi've lost more trees, shrubs and "hardy" perennials to summer than any of the "harsh winters" that have come our way over the past 30+ years.

My heart leaped up when the dawn revealed an overcast skyto shield us, if only a few short hours from the harsh sun.

OK. ,nuf of that. For today.Thank you, dear visitor(if you are still with me)for listening and indulging me.i do feel better for having expressed these feelings...even if you left.Now...onto other things.

There are cheery blue chicory flowers in a sea of lovely grass ignored by the men with their terrible mowing machines

and tropical plants in potslike this Plumbago auriculata

The other very bright spot, The Moviethe final installment of the Harry Potter sagawas a very wonderful surprisedefinitely not the disappointment i had expected after seeing the very poor HP &DH part one.

i had determined that i would see the filmseven tho the previous 3 had been disappointing.It was my duty to sweet Jonthe nephew who is/was my best friendand who got me hooked on the books.An avid reader, the HP books were the only ones in thefantasy genre he ever liked.He had read them and listened to the audio versions several timesand was my source when i forgot details in books 4-6.He laughed in a scolding manner when, at first, i mixed upthe names Dumbledore and Gandalf.(Neither he nor i enjoy Tolkein. Sorry!)

While watching the boring HP & DH part 1i could hear him saying what i was thinking, too"that part of the book can only be read"and"Wow. They blew it at the end of the film. Hollow.Devoid of the wrenching feelings of awe at the loss of Dobby."

Part 2. Completely different experience.i was enthralled.It was a satisfying conclusion to Harry's saga. It's as if the filmmakers saved all of their heart for last.i was especially moved with the marvelous artistry in the rendering of that magnificent, tortured white dragon crawling up, up, up to his freedom,Snape's petronus, and the revelation of his true character, and, of course, Harry's final battle.

It was simply a heart-full.My sister, my nephew, my niece were all with me.Just like when i read the book.

Even tho the heat from Hades slapped us in the face as we opened the doors and left the theater to step out into blazing sunshine (me, my sister and friend)our full hearts carried us up and aboveall the rest of the day.

So often, people get things so very, very wrong.It felt so good to sit for 2.5 hourscarried away with people who got it right.

i play with the New Boy morning noon and night(Yes, he finally has a name. More on him later...when i can finally get a photo or 2. He is such a wiggle worm!)work and play endlessly in photoshopempty and refill the ice cube trays twice a daymake plans to go see a movie in the middle of tomorrow's heatand at nighti sit in front of the fanin the company of this new set of night lights.(Just in case there is a ruckus in the nighti really don't wish to smash a toe, racing to see what New Boy and Spike are up to)

It was 80 degrees F at 8am this morning.i refrain from checking the thermometer during the heat of the dayand i quickly click "reset" every eveningbecause i know without looking that it was close to 100 both yesterday and today.

And not a breath of a breeze.

The good news:clouds are building, even as i type.the weather radar shows a line of thunderstorms headed our wayandthere is Ben & Jerry's in the freezerandthe forecast high for Saturday: 75!

The sun is a beast today.Thin clouds are doing their best to protect us.

in my next life i wish to be a bird or a catso that when the incompatible weather (heat) arrivesi could fly away

Oh! let me be a chimney swiftand live my life on the wingaway, away up so high

orlike the purring fur ball that lives herelet me sleep all daywake just long enough to stretch, eat a morsel, drink stretch, then sleep until it's gone.

If i must be humanthen let mewhen the suffocating heat arrivesflee to a perfect little houseon an island beach at the lip of a shallow harbor

where the thermometer rarely touches 80 degrees F

Come June, i dash in and quickly splash out of the little sea at my door step

and in July it is delicously chilly at first but only bracingand in August my dear friends come visit and we share breakfastthen body surf in blue green wavesand in September i spend every evening watching the sun drop past the horizon

and in October i come back to this home and the turning of the leaves.

ah, well. Finally, i can take a deep breath.Because, while i've been composing thisa stiff breeze has kicked upand clouds are thickeningand is that thunder i hear in the distance?!

Today, with heat smothering my facesingeing my nervesi did remember some important things:

i used to live where it was truly hot and many friends and family still do

i once dreamed of living here

and now, here i am.i can look out any of my windowsat the 1001 shades of greenand the blue sky and cotton white cloudsat the iris & peonies

allium & grasses and a the buds on a deutziaand the first roses

i will close my eyes and savor the sweet evening breeze on my sweaty faceand thank my guardian stars thati could flee that desert before i turned to dustand live and breathe, herein this big house with big windows full of trees and skyand in this garden.

Every now and thenfor just a day or two or three(hopefully it doesn't last any longer than that)we get a taste of how it must be to livein the sultry south.It has been very hotvery humidand rain is, once againover due.

There is a strong urge to run away from the heatescape for just a few days to a place with gentle airgreen vistas, and cool, lapping waves just a few yards away...nights with the window open and a coolness thatmakes the crisp sheet and soft cotton blanketa delicious cocoon.

This is a very big nation.
It takes at least 3 full days and two entire nights
to drive from the Eastern most point to the West coast in one go, if you can stay awake...There must be someplace one can dash tofor a little respite.